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Lonely Planet - Paris

When you're out and about in Paris, be sure to check out these highlights, brought to you courtesy of our friends at Lonely Planet Publications

1. See the city of light at night from the Eiffel Tower

The second-most mesmerising view of this city by night is from the tip of the city's iconic spire, with its 360-degree views over Paris. (The most mesmerising night-time view is from an aeroplane - preferably one that is landing.) About 250 million people have ascended the tower to date. Most visit its three platforms (57m, 115m and 276m) in daytime hours, when, on a clear day, views from the top extend up to 60km. Far fewer visitors make the pilgrimage after sunset. Although you're unlikely to have it to yourself, come nightfall the queues are significantly shorter, and the illuminated boulevards and floodlit monuments spread out before you to provide an impossibly romantic perspective of the city.

Gustave Eiffel constructed the tower initially as a temporary exhibit for the Exposition Universelle (World Fair) in 1889. Until the completion of Manhattan's Chrysler Building in 1930, it remained the world's tallest structure, at 320m (varying by up to 15cm when its 7000 tonnes of iron and 2.5 million rivets expand in warm weather and contract when it's cold). Its immense popularity assured its survival beyond the World Fair and its elegant architectural design became a striking fixture of the city's skyline.

Each night, the tower's twin searchlight beacons beam an 80km radius around the city (look up from the top platform to see the 6000-watt lamps). And every hour, for 10 minutes on the hour, the entire tower sparkles with 20,000 gold-toned lights. It took 25 mountain climbers five months to install the bulbs, and the glittering, diamond-like effect when viewed from within the tower is dazzling.

Night-time at the top can be breezy - bring a jacket.

To prolong the panoramas (and the romance), book dinner at one of the tower's restaurants: Altitude 95, on the 1st level; or Le Jules Verne, the rarefied 2ndlevel restaurant, accessed by private lift.

2. Browse the shelves of a legendary Paris bookshop

A kind of spell descends as you enter this cluttered, charming bookshop. Situated across from Notre Dame, its enchanting nooks and crannies overflow with new and second-hand English-language books. Amid hand-painted quotations and a wishing well, a miniature staircase leads to an attic-like reading library. Next to the children's books is a 'mirror of love', where people leave messages for friends and strangers, and recount finding love between the shop's shelves.

The bookshop is the stuff of legends. The original shop (12 rue l'Odeon; it was closed by the Nazis in 1941) was run by Sylvia Beach and became the meeting point for Hemingway's 'Lost Generation'.

Beach published James Joyce's Ulysses there in 1922, when no-one else would. In 1951 George Whitman opened the present incarnation, attracting a Beat Poet clientele. Scores of authors have since passed through its doors. George is now aged in his 90s, and his daughter, Sylvia Beach Whitman, maintains Shakespeare & Co's serendipitous magic.

3. Enjoy a picnic in Paris' most popular park

The merest ray of sunshine is enough to draw apartment-dwelling Parisians outdoors to soak up the sun while indulging in a picnic of fresh produce and fine cheeses, crusty, still-warm baguettes, and, of course, wine.

You'll see locals picnicking everywhere: in parks, on bridges and by the side of the Seine. The Luxembourg Gardens have a special place in the hearts of Parisians.

Napoleon dedicated the gardens to the children of Paris, and many residents spent their childhood prodding little wooden sail boats with long sticks on the octagonal pond, watching marionettes perform Punch & Judy-type shows, and riding the carrousel (merry-go-round) or ponies.

All those activities are still here today, as well as a modern playground and sporting and games venues. But above all, the gardens are still a place to unwind - and to dine.

The elegantly manicured lawns are off-limits apart from a small wedge on the southern boundary.

Otherwise, do as the Parisians do, and corral a metal chair and find your own favourite part of the park.

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